abhik wrote:Well there was plan (project) for our own MPA based possibly on the on the C295, not sure what happened to it.
Its a declared program under DRDO to develop a mission suite for a MPA, but the CG is mentioned as the primary customer.
abhik wrote:Well there was plan (project) for our own MPA based possibly on the on the C295, not sure what happened to it.
dinesha wrote:Glug, glug, glug: India’s interest in unsinkable aircraft carriers
David Brewster suggests that India should develop the Andaman and Nicobar Islands over a 3rd aircraft carrier.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-inter ... t-carriers
The real odds that a maritime power will sink another’s aircraft carrier in peacetime are actually quite slim. True, the flat-top is expensive, and perhaps more vulnerable than before. But so long as it is employed judiciously in less-than-war conditions (as is likely to be the case), there is still no platform to beat its strategic utility.
For the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier is an article of faith because of its ability to alter the psychological balance in the Indian Ocean littorals. It is a potent symbol of a nation’s pride and power; a floating piece of sovereign territory; and a projection of national will.
Khalsa wrote:NZ and AU exposed the intent while it was still on the chopping board in the kitchen.
Old British and French pressure was also applied and minds were changed.
All sides later denied that the Chinese has any intentions to get a base.
Would have a been a game changer for Australian and Chinese Navies.
Australia to pass foreign interference laws amid rising China tensions
Reuters Staff
* Australia seeks to prevent foreign meddling
* Lobbyists required to register as foreign agents
* New legislation has soured Australia-China ties
* China’s Huawei says security concerns “just plain wrong” (Updates to show legislation now expected to pass on Thursday)
By Colin Packham and Tom Westbrook
SYDNEY, June 27 (Reuters) - Australia is expected to pass legislation on Thursday aimed at preventing interference by foreign governments, a move likely to further stoke tensions with major trading partner China.
Mirroring similar rules in the United States, Australia will require lobbyists for foreign countries to register, and makes them liable for criminal prosecution if they are deemed to be meddling in domestic affairs.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year referred to “disturbing reports about Chinese influence” as justification for the measures.
China has denied allegations of meddling in Australian affairs, but concern over Chinese political donations and relationships between lawmakers and Chinese businesses has intensified in Australia.
“It will come down to whether China is cited when the legislation passes. China will not want to again be singled out,” said James Laurenceson, deputy director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
The legislative package before the Senate includes the new Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill, which requires the registration of lobbyists working for foreign governments.
Another amended law expands potential crimes to include meddling by these agents.
Having cleared the lower house, the package is expected to pass in the Senate where the main opposition Labor Party has said it will support it. The Senate had been expected to give its approval on Wednesday, but time was taken over other items, and the legislation was held over until Thursday.
Another planned bill, banning foreign political donations, has yet to be introduced in the lower house.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said law-making was a country’s internal affair and he declined to comment, though he did appeal for all countries to “abandon Cold War thinking”.
“We further want all other countries in the world to follow the principle of not interfering in other countries’ internal affairs,” Lu told a daily news briefing.
“So we hope that all countries can abandon Cold War thinking and on a foundation of mutual respect and equal treatment pursue better communications and cooperation. We believe this better fits with the interests of all countries’ peoples.”
The widening diplomatic rift between Australia and China has affected some of their $125 billion in two-way trade as Australian wine exporters such as Treasury Wine Estates faced delays getting some products through Chinese customs.
Despite Australian efforts to ease the curbs, wine is only trickling into the industry’s most lucrative market, expected to be worth more than A$1 billion this year.
Australian cattle graziers and citrus growers also fear they are being sidelined by China as a result of the row.
HUAWEI HANG UP
Against this backdrop of cooling relations, Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has emerged as a lightning rod for Australian security fears.
The world’s largest maker of telecommunications network equipment and the No. 3 smartphone supplier, Huawei has already been virtually shut out of the giant U.S. market because of national security concerns.
It is lobbying to avoid a similar fate in Australia, sponsoring more overseas travel for politicians than any other company in recent years, and arranging for John Lord, chairman of its Australian unit, to speak in Canberra on Wednesday.
Lord, a former rear admiral in Australia’s navy, said security concerns based on Huawei’s links to China were “uninformed or just plain wrong”.
“In our three decades as a company no evidence of any sort has been provided to justify these concerns by anyone ever,” Lord told the National Press Club of Australia, adding that Britain and New Zealand had permitted 5G investments by Huawei.
“Nothing sinister has been found. No wrongdoing, no criminal action, no intent, no back door, no planted vulnerability and no magical kill switch,” he said.
Huawei provides 4G equipment to three of the country’s four major carriers, Vodafone, SingTel’s Optus and TPG Telecom Ltd, but was blocked in 2012 from providing broadband equipment.
Turnbull said the government was still mulling Huawei’s role in the country’s nascent 5G network.
“We’ll continue to consider that and get the best advice on that from our national security agencies,” he told reporters in Canberra. ($1 = 1.3535 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Colin Packham and Tom Westbrook in SYDNEY Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in BEIJING Editing by Darren Schuettler)
While inadequate capital allocations affect all warship acquisitions, the drag is most apparent in the navy’s flagship project to design and develop IAC-2, which will reportedly be named INS Vishal. The first indigenous carrier, INS Vikrant, which is being constructed in Cochin Shipyard, is expected to be commissioned in 2021. IAC-2 should have begun construction, but has not even managed to get an “in principle” approval from the defence ministry, which seems paralysed by the fratricidal contest between the army, air force and navy for the same depleted budget.
While the ministry dithers over sanctioning IAC-2, a US-India joint working group (JWG), set up in January 2015, is working with the US navy and warship industry -- acknowledged as the gold standard in aircraft carrier operations. Consequently, the navy is embracing American design and operating philosophies, such as catapult launch of aircraft. The Pentagon has agreed to provide India with EMALS – the “electro-magnetic rail gun aircraft launch system” – a system so advanced that only the latest US Navy carrier has it. The remaining US carriers still launch aircraft using the conventional “steam catapult”.
Meanwhile navy sources say the Pentagon has agreed to reserve vacancies for Indian aircraft carrier designers in US Navy design courses. Indian navy officers describe as “an eye opener”, their exposure to US Navy operating procedures. They are learning from their US counterparts new methodologies for final operational trials on new carriers, which will cut down time for operationalising the Vikrant and Vishal.
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